Upcycling: the latest ephemeral trend or a way of life? I think it could just be the latter. With more and more of us beginning to care about the mark we leave on this planet, upcycling is a perfect place to start.

Every time you buy British goods that are made with skilled labour, you're not only creating jobs for British workers, you are also keeping skills alive in this country. Often these skills have been handed down through the generations. It's about culture, tradition, heritage and history as much as it is about the thing you buy.

They say that no one understands a good cup of tea quite like the British. Well I can certainly vouch for that as I love a good cuppa. I never start my day without one, I dunk a biscuit into one as the perfect antidote when I'm feeling down, I warm my hands on one on a cold Winter's day, and when I wake up with a hangover on a Sunday morning, my only cure is to make one.

RE, a hard-to-pin-down 'found object', vintage and recycled design company, first pricked my interest as they're based in the tiny, picturesque village of Corbridge, Northumberland, where my mum (and former Sunderland manager, Steve Bruce) is from.

I *heart* NY, I really do. I also love tat - any kind of kitsch or tacky dust-trapping tourist nonsense - but it tends to drive my better half crazy so this trip I resolved to find some stylish and hopefully even useful pieces instead of yet more snow globes.